ANDES. laying hold of the roots which penetrate to his depth from the surface of the ground.

Roads.

"We traversed the mountain of Quindiu in the month of October 1801, on foot, followed by twelve oxen, which carried our collections and instruments, amid a deluge of rain, to which we were exposed during the last three or four days in our descent on the western side of the Cordilleras. The road passes through a country full of bogs, and covered with bamboos. Our shoes were so torn by the prickles which shoot out from the roots of these gigantic gramina, that we were forced, like all other travellers who dislike being carried on men's backs, to go bare-footed. This circumstance, the continual humidity, the length of the passage, the muscular force required to tread in a thick and muddy clay, the necessity of fording deep torrents of icy water, render this journey extremely fatiguing; but, however painful, it is accompanied by none of those dangers with which the credulity of the people alarms travellers. The road is narrow, but the places where it skirts the precipices are very rare.

"When travellers reach Ibague, and prepare to cross the forests of Quindiu, they pluck in the neighbouring mountains several hundred leaves of the vijao, a plant of the family of the bananas, which forms a genus approaching to the thalia, and which must not be confounded with the heliconia bibai. These leaves, which are membranous and silky, like those of the musa, are of an oval form, two feet long, and 16 inches broad. Their lower surface is a silvery white, and covered with a farinaceous substance, which falls off in scales. This peculiar varnish enables them to resist the rain during a long time. In gathering these leaves, an incision is made in the middle rib, which is the continuation of the foot-stalk, and this serves as a hook to suspend them, when the moveable roof is formed. On taking it down they are spread out, and carefully rolled up in a cylindrical bundle. It requires about a hundred weight of leaves to cover a hut large enough to hold six or eight persons. When the travellers reach a spot in the midst of a forest where the ground is dry, and when they propose to pass the night, the cargueros lop a few branches from the trees, with which they make a tent. In a few minutes this slight timber-work is divided into squares, by the stalks of some climbing plant, or the threads of the agavè, placed in parallel lines, twelve or thirteen inches from each other. The vijao leaves meanwhile become unrolled, and are now spread over the above work, so as to cover it like the tiles of a house. These huts, thus hastily built, are cool and commodious. If, during the night, the traveller feels the rain, he points out the spot where it enters, and a leaf is sufficient to obviate the inconvenience. We passed several days in the valley of the Boquia, under one of these leafy tents, which was perfectly dry, amidst violent and incessant rains."

Some very excellent public roads have been cut with great labour in the neighbourhood of Chimborazo, one of which is 1,000 miles in length; and similar labours of the ancient incas of Peru may be found throughout that interesting province. Over the Rio Desaguadero, in Buenos Ayres, is a singular road-way, formed of rushes, which is attributed to Capac Yupanqui, the fifth inca. He is said to have caused four large cables to be made of the long grass of the higher regions of the Andes; two of which were first stretched across the

stream, and bundles of dry rushes and flags fastened AND upon them; over these the other two cables were stretched, and covered with similar materials, until a safe bridge of 100 yards in length, and five yards broad, was constructed for the passage of his army to the conquest of Charcas. It was repaired, by a Peruvian law, every six months, and the Spaniards, since their possession of the country, have regularly kept it in good condition. In the more difficult roads, the aid of the sagacious S's mule is continually required. These are sometimes the full of holes, from two to three feet deep, in which the mules set their feet, and draw their bellies and their rider's legs along the ground with the utmost caution. Thus they form a species of steps, without which the precipices would frequently be impracticable. If the mule (which rarely happens) should accidentally place his foot between two of these holes, or in a wrong situation, the rider falls, at whatever peril. Where these holes are wanting, and the tracks are steep and slippery through incessant rains, the traveller is obliged to be preceded by Indians, who dig small trenches along the path with a peculiar species of spade. On other occasions of a smooth and steep descent, the mules seem to feel the pressing danger, and pause at the top of the eminence, as if to ascertain the best mode of procedure. The animal then carefully closes its fore feet, and stretching them out straight, draws its hinder legs in some degree under its body, and glides down the path with inconceivable rapidity. The rider, in this instance, must keep himself fast in his saddle, and impose no restraint upon his mule, for the least possible movement, by destroying the equilibrium, may precipitate both down the steep sides of the rocks. Whenever all is thus committed to themselves, the mules will exactly follow the different windings of the path, and pass the greatest irregularities with safety.

The water-falls of the Andes are numerous, and Wr occasionally very interesting and imposing in their ap pearance. Humboldt was highly gratified at that of Tequendama, in the plains of Bogota, a mass of waters forty feet broad at the edge of the cataract, running first at the height of 7,465 feet from the level of the ocean, and thundering down 600 feet perpendicularly into a gloomy quebrada. The whole landscape seems to combine to soften the horrors of this part of the scenery. Luxuriant trees and herbaceous plants reach to the very edges of the numerous precipices around, and display, according to this author, a remarkable freshness of vegetation. The climate is temperate in its vicinity, and fine crops of wheat are seen in all parts of the plain; below, the traveller feels a sensible approach to the ardour of equatorial regions; delightfully relieved, however, by the dashing spray and dews of the water-fall. A singular tradition of i the natives respecting the formation of this cataract is thus given by Captain Bonnycastle, to whose useful collections on the subject of South American geography, we have been frequently indebted in this article. "In remote times, when the sun alone gave the earth light, and the people of the plain of Bogota were savage barbarians, an old man, totally unlike the natives, suddenly appeared amongst them from the east, with a white beard, and flowing garments. This was Bochica. He instructed them in agriculture, &c.; and with him came a woman, who, as well as himself, had three names; one of which was Chia; she was very beauti

DES. ful, very malevolent, and overturned every thing Bochica attempted. By her magic she swelled the rivers DIRA. and overflowed the plain; so that the people, with the exception of a few, who escaped to the mountains, perished in the waters. Bochica, exasperated at her conduct, drove Chia from the earth; and she became the moon. He then, by the mighty force of his arm, broke a passage through the rocks, and constituted the fall of the Tequendama; by which means the lake formed by Chia was drained, and the plain of Bogota rendered more beautiful and fertile than it had been before.

ence

at

ins

>pe.

"The appearance of the plain of Bogota, at this moment, justifies the tradition of its having formerly been a lake. Low summits appear here and there like islets, and the whole plain is rendered marshy by the numerous streams which cross it in every direction."

On

The Andes differ essentially from the mountains of n the Europe which approach their altitudes, in the circumand stance of their entire freedom from those icy formations which constitute the glaciers of the Alps, and from the tremendous visitation of the avalanches of those regions. The variation of the temperament in climates under the equator is so trifling, as rarely to disturb the solidity of the vast collections of snow on the upper parts of these mountains, which literally, therefore, retain the accumulation of a thousand winters. the Alps and Pyrenees, the case is widely different; for as the sun, in spring, acquires progressive power, immense portions of the upper fields of snow gradually detach themselves from the rest, and, in the rapidity of their descent, put other masses of the same nature in motion, till, spreading wider, and gaining accumulated force, the whole collection rushes down with the velocity of lightning, and spreads devastation through all the adjacent plains. The eboulements of the Alps, or the splitting of immense rocks by the change of weather, which spring therefore from the same cause, are also little known in the Andes.

ANDES, ANDEGAVI, or ANDICAVI, a people among the Celta, east of the Namnetes, or Nannetes, north of the river Niger. It is now the country of Anjou. The present town of Angers was the original capital, called Juliamagus, or Civitas Andicavorum. The inhabitants were a brave people, who strenuously defended their liberty. During the reign of Tiberius, having considered themselves wantonly oppressed by taxation, they raised a rebellion, and opposed the imperial armies with considerable success. Cæs. Bell. Gall. ii. c. 35. LUCAN, i. v. 434. Also a village near Mantua, in Italy, now called Bandes, the birth-place of Virgil, sometimes called Andinus. ITAL. viii. v. 595.

ANDEVOURANTE, a river, on the eastern coast of Madagascar, flowing through the country of the Batalimenes. The town, or village, of Andevourante, is situated on its banks, and is said to be able to bring an army of 10,000 fighting men into the field.

ANDIRA, or ANGELIN, in Botany, a tree cultivated

ANDI

feelings; hence it is not an uncommon circumstance to ANDES. meet occasionally with bodies of travellers who have fallen victims to the inclemency of the weather, and RON. whose countenances wear the horrid appearance of laughter, owing to the contraction of the muscles at the Vegetable period of dissolution. In these deserts, the pine seems producto linger last of the more stately tribes of vegetables, tions. and accompanied only by a low sort of moss. It is found at the height of 13,000 feet from the level of the sea. The larger trees of every order begin progressively to appear at the height of between 10,000 and 9,000 feet in descent. The oak is met with at an altitude of 9,200 feet, and never descends near the equatorial regions below that of 5,500 feet; it is, however, occasionally to be met with in the neighbourhood of Mexico, at the height of only 2,620 feet.

The climate, which is best adapted to the generality of European grain, lies between the altitudes of 6,000 and 9,000 feet. Under the equator, wheat will seldom spring up below the elevation of 4,500 feet, or ripen above that of 1,080. The European colonists have not, however, sufficiently varied their experiments in agriculture, to ascertain with precision the capabilities of these regions. According to Humboldt, there are very fine harvests of wheat near Victoria, in the province of the Caraccas, at 1,640 or 1,900 feet above the sea; and at Cuba, even at a smaller elevation, the wheaten fields will come to maturity. Rye, and more particularly barley, will resist cold better than wheat; and consequently ripen at a much greater elevation. Maize is cultivated in the same climate as the banana, but extends over a wider sphere, as it flourishes at 9,000 feet above the level of the sea. The lower grounds of the Andes, within the tropics, abounds in oranges, pine apples, the most delicious fruits, and every diversity of the vegetable tribes. Cacao, maize, cassava, indigo, coffee, sugar, and cotton, are cultivated with great success. Cacao and indigo, the banana-tree, and the root of the cassava, require immoderate heat, in order to ripen them; but cotton and coffee will flourish at a very considerable elevation; and in the more temperate parts of the kingdom of Quito, sugar arrives at a very superior degree of perfection.

in Brazil for its wood, which is hard and suitable for building; it belongs to the class Diadelphia and order, Decandria.

ANDIRA, in Zoology, the name of a dangerous kind of cat, in Brazil, which attacks the feet of persons when asleep, and opens the veins with such caution, that it is extremely difficult to perceive its approach.

ANDIRON. It seems unsettled whether this word should be written Hand or End-iron, or considered as a corruption of Brand-iron. In A. S. there is Brand-isen, and in Dutch Brandysen. (Isen in the former and Ysen in the latter, meaning Iron): whence Du Cange derives the French Landier, formerly Andeir, and the barbarous Latin Andela.

DRE ment of Vigan, and head of a canton, containing about
VAL 1,850 inhabitants.
RGNE,

ST.

AN

EW'S, ST.

ANDRE DE VILLENEUOC, ST. a town of France, also in Languedoc, department of the Gard, arrondissement of Uzes. It is a fortified town, and contains a population of 3,300 inhabitants.

ANDREA, ST. a town of Naples, in the Principato Ultra. It contains about 2,200 inhabitants, and belongs to the archbishop of Conza. The same name is given to a group of islands in the gulf of Venice, N. of Ragusa.

ANDREASBERG, a town of the kingdom of Hanover, in the principality of Grubenhagen, in the Hartz, 10 miles S. S. E. of Goslar. In the year 1810 there were 3,359 inhabitants; many of whom were employed in the iron, cobalt, and silver mines, in the neighbourhood. The latter are very valuable, and usually employ about 130 hands. The water necessary in the working of these mines is supplied from a large reservoir, constructed with much ingenuity.

ANDREDCHESTER, in Ancient Geography, a town of Britain, conjectured by Somner to be Pevensey, or Hastings; and by Camden, to be Newenden, in Kent. Ella, with the Saxons, furiously attacked the Britons who defended it, but it was shortly afterwards taken, and all who were discovered alive within its wails were promiscuously slaughtered.

ANDREW, ST. knights of, a military order of knighthood in Scotland, called also the order of the Thistle. Their ensign is a gold collar composed of thistles, linked together with annulets of gold, having pendant thereto the image of St. Andrew, with his cross, and the motto-Nemo me impune lacessit. Authors are divided as to the origin of this order; according to the bishop of Ross, the night before the battle between Hungus, king of the Picts, and Athelstane, king of Northumberland, a bright cross, similar to that on which St. Andrew suffered, appeared to Hungus, suspended in the air; as he gained the victory, he afterwards bore that cross as his arms, in which he has been followed by all the kings of Scotland. Some attribute the introduction of this order to Achaius, king of Scotland, who, when he had formed a league of amity with Charlemagne, took for his device the Thistle and the Rue, and his motto was Pour ma défense. Others place the institution of this order in the reign of Charles VII. of France, who, receiving great assistance from the Scotch, renewed the league of amity which had been before entered into with King Achaius.

ANDREW, ST. knights of, a Russian order of knighthood in honour of St. Andrew, who was supposed to have introduced Christianity into that country. It was instituted by Peter the Great, in the year 1698, for the purpose of encouraging the activity of his nobles in the war with the Turks. The badge of this order is a medal of gold, suspended from the right shoulder by a blue ribbon, with St. Andrew's cross on one side, and on the reverse, Czar Pierre, Monarque de toute la Russie.'

ANDREW'S, ST. an important city of Scotland, on the Firth of Tay, in the county of Fife, nine miles from Cupar, and 39 from Edinburgh, W. lon. 2°, 50'. N. lat. 56°, 19'. It is about a mile and a half in circuit, consisting of three principal streets; two churches of the kirk of Scotland, one episcopalian, two dissenting meeting-houses, and a university, having two col

VOL. XVII.

leges: St. Salvador's, and St. Mary's. The population amounts to about 3,300 persons. It is a royal burgh; and, in union with Cupar, Perth, Dundee, and Forfar, returns one member to parliament. St. Andrew's was formerly a place of considerably greater extent than at present; and contained several fine specimens of ancient architecture, and ecclesiastical antiquities, which are now demolished. The iconoclastic zeal of the reformers, in the year 1559, levelled with the ground its noble cathedral, which extended 370 feet by 180, within the walls. There were also several religious houses here, particularly the priory of St. Andrew's, one of the richest and best endowed monasteries in Scotland. Remains of an ancient chapel, called the chapel of St. Rule, or St. Regulus, a Greek monk, to whom tradition gives the merit of having been the founder of the city, about the close of the fourth century, are still to be seen. Here also are ruins of an ancient chapel, formerly belonging to a convent of Black Friars; and of a castle erected by Bishop Roger, in the year 1200, on the edge of the precipice, washed by the sea. This castle became the palace of the bishops of the diocese of St. Andrew's, which was the metropolitan see of Scotland. In front of it, in the year 1545, one Wishart, a minister of the reformed religion, was burnt for heresy by the Catholics. In the following year the Protestants retaliated this piece of cruelty, by the assassination of the celebrated Primate and Cardinal Beaton, in his own apartment in the castle. The fortress having been subsequently demolished by the reformers, its ruins have latterly been used as a land-mark to mariners.

But the principal object of importance in St. Andrew's, at present, is its university, the origin of which is dated as early as 1412. It consisted of three colleges, St. Salvador's, St. Leonard's, and St. Mary's. St. Leonard's having been alienated, its buildings were converted into private houses; and the foundations of that and St. Salvador's united in 1748. The united foundation is devoted to the study of the learned and foreign languages, philosophy, and the sciences. The building is a quadrangular edifice, extending round an open court, 230 feet long, and 150 wide, with a gateway, surmounted by a spire, 156 feet high. The college church was built in the fifteenth century, about the year 1458, by Bishop Kennedy, and contains a fine specimen of the monumental architecture of those times. This is the tomb of its founder, which was opened in the year 1683, when there were discovered six richly ornamented silver maces; three of which are preserved in the university, and the other three distributed to other universities in Scotland.

The college of St. Mary stands in another part of the city, and is entirely devoted to the study of theology. It was erected, by the enlargement of an older seminary, by Bishop Beaton, in the year 1538. There is a very extensive and increasing library, which is common to both colleges, and now consists of above 36,000 volumes. The number of students at both colleges have never been known to exceed 300; and they do not, at this time, amount to 200. There are fifty-six bursaries, or endowments, belonging to the university, which are constantly conferred on the students.

The parish church is a stately edifice, 162 feet in length, and 63 in breadth. It will hold 2,500 persons.

4 c

ST.

AN- One of the most valuable monuments which it conDREW'S, tains, is a lofty one of white marble, erected to the memory of Archbishop Sharp, who was murdered by ANDRO- the reformers, in the year 1679. The story of this LEPSY. murder is designated by a rude piece of sculpture, in which all the tragical circumstances of that event are represented.

This city still retains a coasting trade of some importance; which, however, is constantly retarded by the low situation of the shore in the bay, and the narrow entrance of the harbour. It is also much exposed to the north-east winds. The principal manufactures of the town are those of sail-cloths, which lately employed 150 weavers, and golf-balls; the game of golf being greatly practised in various parts of Scotland.

ANDREW'S, ST. a town of North America, situated between the United States and New Brunswick, in a small island of the same name. There is also another town of this name, in Vermont, North America, about 100 miles from Bennington.

ANDRIA, in Antiquity, entertainments in which the whole city, or tribe, bore a part, instituted by Minos of Crete, and afterwards introduced at Sparta by Lycurgus. The place where the feasts were given was called Andrion.

ANDRIA, a town of Naples, five miles from Trani, in the province of Bari. It bears the title of a duchy, belonging to the house of Caraffa, and has a bishop, who is suffragan of Tani.

ANDRICLUS, or ANDRICULUS, in Ancient Geography, a lofty mountain of Cilesia, between the promontory of Anemurium and the river Selinus; also a river of Troas, running into the Scamander. PLIN. v. 27. ANDROGYNES, in Fabulous Antiquity, a nation of Africa, said to have been situated beyond the Nasamones, and to have borne, individually, the distinguishing characteristics of both sexes. LUCRET v. 837. Liv. xxvii. 11. AUSON. Ixix. 12. PLIN. v. 2. There is also a fable in Plato (perhaps derived originally from the Scripture account of the formation of man) of the gods having at first created man with two bodies and two sexes, and that this being having made war against the celestial powers, Jupiter separated the male from the female. The astrologers called those planets Androgynous, which are sometimes hot (i. e. when near the sun) and sometimes cold and moist, according to their system, i. e. when near the moon.

ANDROGYNES, in Physiology, a name which has sometimes been given to those individuals of the human species who have appeared to unite in themselves the attributes of both sexes. See HERMAPHRODITE.

ANDROGYNOUS, or ANDROGINA, in Botany, a term used for plants bearing on the same root both male and female flowers.

ANDROIDES, in Mechanics (from avno, a man, and sidos, appearance), is a machine, or species of automaton, bearing an exact resemblance to the human figure, and so ingeniously constructed, that it imitates certain motions and actions of the living man. See AUTOMATON, where all the different kinds of these self-moving figures will be regularly classed and described.

ANDROLEPSY, in Antiquity, a word resembling our term reprisals. When a person had escaped after

LEPS

ANE

committing murder, and the kindred of the deceased ANDR found in what place he had taken refuge, they were sanctioned in seizing three men in the house or city where he was sheltered, and detaining them until sa- DOL tisfaction was made for the offence, or the delinquent given up to justice.

ANDROMEDA, in Astronomy, a constellation of the northern hemisphere, situated between Cassiopeia and Pegasus, representing the figure of a woman chained.

ANDROMEDA, in Botany, a genus of plants belonging to the class Decandria, and order Monogynia. ANDROPHAGI (of avnp, men, and payw, to eat), men-eaters. See ANTHROPOPHAGI.

ANDROPOGOS, or ANDROPOGON, in Botany, a genus of plants belonging to the class Polygamia, and order Monica. One species of this plant is well known as the perfume called spikenard.

ANDROS, or ANDRO, one of the Cyclades, in the Archipelago, E. lon. 25°, 2'. and N. lat. 37°, 46'. See CYCLADES.

ANDROSACE, in Botany, a genus of plants belonging to the class Pentandria, and order Monogynia. ANDROSCOGGIN RIVER. See AMORISCOGGIN. ANDRYALA, in Botany, a genus of plants belonging to the class Syngenesia, and order Polygamia æqualis. ANDUJAR, or ANDUXAR, a small but respectable city of Andalusia, in Spain, in the province of Jaen. It stands in the centre of a beautiful plain, watered by the Guadalquiver, over which is a bridge of 17 arches. The town is defended by an ancient castle, and is the seat of a corregidorah. It has a considerable trade in silk, corn, oil, wine, fruit, and honey, and contains about 14,000 inhabitants. The neighbourhood is noted for the making of the Spanish alcarrazas, or wine coolers.

ANDUSE, a town of France, in Languedoc, department of the Gard, arrondissement of Alais, and head of a canton. It is eight leagues and a half from Nismes, and eleven N. of Montpelier, situated on the banks of the Gardon. It has a population of about 5,000 persons, chiefly Protestants, employed in the manufacture of woollen stuffs, stockings, and hats, for the fair at Beaucaire.

ANE, a town of France, in the modern department of the Jura, arrondissement of St. Claude, in Franche Comté, between Besançon and Geneva, on the Jura mountains. There is an ancient castle here, which is the only object of interest in the town. ANEAR'. ON NEAR.

The cardinal continues to pursue me; and to fright the clergy as much as he can from coming anear me.

Bp. Atterbury's Letters.
AN'ECDOTE, n. 1 Aveкdoroç, a, not, ex, from, and
Ανεκδοτος,
ANECDOT'ICAL. S coros (from dicwμ), given.
Not yet given out, published, made known, divulged.
Now usually applied to any little story, or incident of
private life.

Antiquity has preserved a beautiful instance in an anecdote of Alexander, the tyrant of Pheres, who, though he had so industriously hardened his heart as to seem to take delight in cruelty, insomuch as to murder many of his subjects every day, without cause and without pity; yet, at the bare representation of a tragedy, which related the misfortunes of Hecuba and Andromache, he was so touched with the fictitious distress which the poet had wrought up in it, that he burst out into a flood of tears.

Sterne's Sermons.